Property values drop, so tax rate goes up

Wednesday

Nov 7, 2012 at 12:57 PM

By ROBERT BARBOZA

By ROBERT BARBOZA

Editor

DARTMOUTH — The Select Board voted Monday night to accept Administrator of Assessing Paul Bergman's recommendation to continue the policy of shifting a small portion of the annual tax burden from residential properties to commercial, industrial, and personal (CIP) property taxpayers for another year.

With the traditional split tax rate, residential taxpayers will pay $9.35 per $1,000 in valuation in Fiscal Year 2013, up from $8.88 per $1,000 in valuation this year. Without the shift, all classes of property in town would be assessed at $10.17 per $1,000 in valuation, according to Mr. Bergman's figures.

The commercial/industrial tax rate was set at $14.29 per $1,000 in value, up from $13.53 per $1,000 in value for FY12; personal property will be assessed at $14.23 per $1,000 in valuation, up from $13.48 per $1,000 in valuation this year.

The Select Board also voted to continue the small business exemption for another year at the maximum 10 percent figure allowed by state law. The split tax rate and accompanying small business exemptions have been adopted by the board since 2007.

The shifting of 40 percent of the town's total tax burden to CIP taxpayers will provide some small measure of relief to residential property owners who have seen their home values decline for the fifth straight year. Residential properties make up slightly more than 83 percent of the tax base; commercial property will generate about 12.4 percent of the total tax levy, and industrial property, about 1.6 percent of the total tax base, with personal property making up the remaining 2.7 percent of the total.

Mr. Bergman told selectmen Monday that residential property values were down two to three percent on average again this year, with the full and fair valuation of all residential property in town declining to just over $4 billion.

The total value of taxable residential property in town declined about $100 million this year, he noted.

The slight increase in the residential tax rate means that most property tax bills would show the traditional 2.5 percent per year average hike that has taken place since Proposition 2½ was passed in Massachusetts.

This year, the median value of a home in Dartmouth was $275,000; the tax rate of $8.88 per $1,000 in valuation generated a property tax bill of $2,442. For Fiscal Year 2013, the median home value is $269,500, and a tax rate of $9.35 will result in a tax bill of $2,520, according to Mr. Bergman's calculations.

"Looking back at the last six years of taxes on a median valued house, we can see the cumulative increase would be about 15 percent," or an average of 2.5 percent, he told the Select Board. In FY 2007, the median value of a home in Dartmouth was $322,000 and the property tax rate was $6.80 per $1,000, resulting in a tax bill of $2,190, his figures showed.

Total commercial property values also declined slightly this year, to roughly $6.07 million, while industrial property values showed an increase of about $11 million, to nearly $78 million total, mostly due to commercial-scale solar power facilities being added to the tax rolls, it was noted.

Although the commercial and industrial rates will go up nearly five percent with the shift of some tax burden to CIP taxpayers, Dartmouth's CIP rate "is still substantially lower" than the rates in most neighboring communities, Selectman William Trimble noted, including about half of what New Bedford is assessing business property owners.

Selectman Michael Watson joined other board members in voting for the split rate, but suggested, "We're not doing enough for small business" in terms of tax relief.

He would like to ask state legislators to work towards increasing the 10 percent maximum small business exemption allowed by state law, moving it to somewhere between 20 and 30 percent, he said.

More of the local tax burden could be shifted to big business with an increased exemption, he argued. "Lowe's and Home Depot and Walmart are not going anywhere" if commercial taxes go up slightly to cover higher exemptions for small business, Mr. Watson suggested.

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